Let’s Talk About Being Pro-“It’s-Not-My-Business”

Yesterday, I was scrolling though the Facebook and one of my friends shared this horrible picture from The Other 98%. Being irritated and intrigued at such an odd position, I went to the 98%’s page…and surprise, I was even more irritated by the ignorant and asinine posts. However, this is not about that group, their political opinions, questionable agenda, or other morally reprehensible posts. That is a different spiel for a different time. But this time, it’s about one morally reprehensible post. This one:

If you can’t see the picture, it says:

Again, pro choice does not mean pro abortion. It means it’s not my business so I keep my noise to myself and don’t shame other woman bc I’m not them and idk what they’ve been through or why they came to that decision.

As a rule of thumb, I’m pro-life. Basically 100% of the time. The only caveat to that is if the life of the mother is legitimately in danger. But generally, I’m pro-life.

I’ve heard and heavily considered the arguments and rationale for the pro-choice view, but none of them have been convincing or remotely consistent. In fact, the more research I’ve done, the more convinced I am that my residence in the pro-life camp is the right choice.

Now that that’s out of the way… I find this post horrendous.

Firstly, by definition, being pro-choice does mean being pro-abortion.

As for the rest of that post, the killing of a small human is the only context where the stance of “it’s not my business” is considered a fair moral position to take. As an intellectual exercise, let’s try it out in some different situations:

“Again, pro spousal abuse does not mean pro abusing spouses. It means it’s not my business so I keep my noise to myself and don’t shame other men/women who commit spousal abuse because I’m not them and I don’t know what they’ve been through or why they came to the decision to abuse their spouse.”

“Again, pro child molestation does not mean pro molesting children. It means it’s not my business so I keep my noise to myself and don’t shame the men/women who commit acts of molesting children because I’m not them and I don’t know what they’ve been through or why they came to the decision to molest children.”

“Again, pro slavery does not mean pro enslaving people. It means it’s not my business so I keep my noise to myself and don’t shame other men/women because I’m not them and I don’t know what they’ve been though or why they came to the decision to own slaves.”

“Again, pro racism does not mean pro thinking one race is inherently better or worse than another based strictly on skin color or ethnicity. It means it’s not my business so I keep my noise to myself and don’t shame other men/women who are racists because I’m not them and I don’t know what they’ve been though or why they came to the decision to think that some races are inherently better or worse than others based solely on skin color or ethnicity.

“Again, pro rapist does not mean pro raping people. It means it’s not my business so I keep my noise to myself and don’t shame other men/women who are rapists because I’m not them and I don’t know what they’ve been through or why they came to the decision to violate the rights of another by raping them.”

Perhaps if that post were more honest it would’ve read something like this:

Again, pro choice does mean pro killing unborn babies. But to keep myself from being responsible for my behavior and opinions, I’m saying that it means it’s not my business and that I keep my noise to myself, don’t stand for what’s right, don’t speak for those who can’t speak for themselves, and abstain from pointing out immoral and bad behavior when I see it, regardless of where it comes from. Oh, and I tell people that I don’t shame other women because ‘shame’ is a hot-button word that I use as a scapegoat to keep from having to actually explain myself and my poorly thought out and questionable position. After all, I’m not them and I don’t know what they’ve been through or why they came to the morally reprehensible decision to end the life of a separate human who happens to be living inside of them.

Yes, we have autonomy and freedom and there are certain contexts when we should alljust mind our own business. Butthe rights of others being infringed upon is not one of them, especially when those others are innocent and unable to take a stand for themselves.

Once again, with the exception of the life of the mother being in legitimate danger, I can’t find, and haven’t been presented with, any reasonable, moral, ethical, consistent, or intellectually honest way to be pro-choice.

My long list of reasons and rationale for being pro-life is another blog for another time. The purpose of this post was to take a closer look at that other post from The Other 98%. It certainly wasn’t convincing for me, and hopefully it wasn’t convincing for anyone else, either.

But don’t just take my word for it; check out these other sources for healthy conversation about the pro-life vs. pro-choice topic.

I found the Gosnell book to be especially convincing. Even if someone can mange to be pro-choice after reading it, they definitely won’t be able to look at abortion in the same light again.